As our book nears completion and the last details are put in place and polished up there is some apprehension about whether we have covered all the necessary material bases and whether the concepts that we have developed and the ones we have used are appropriate. It is nice to be vindicated with news that covers some of our ideas and adds strength to our concepts.
A recent article in the Financial Post garnered much attention over the past week and was mentioned in the Daily Reckoning newsletter in the article from Bill Bonner. I recommend you sign up for the free newsletter from the Daily Reckoning. It is focused on investing but also provide great political and social commentary and how it relates to our investments.
Bill Bonner noted an article from Christopher Caldwell in the Financial Times called, A Bankrupt Nation Wakes Up. In the article Caldwell quotes an up and coming new Republican from Wisconsin who is ringing the alarm bells about the sustainability of social security, pension and healthcare costs:
Mr Ryan views debt as an “existential threat”, a great drama whose cause is self-indulgence and whose end is enslavement
“We face two dangers: long-term economic decline as the number of makers diminishes and the number of takers grows and, worse, gradual moral-political decline as dependency and passivity weaken the nation’s character.”
In retrospect, the story of the past half century is that Americans found a way to extract money from future generations and leave them with the bill. What they have been enjoying is not prosperity but luxury. As Mr Ryan sees, they face the serious and open question of whether they are morally capable, over the long term, of living within their means.
Please check out Ryan's program and analysis called Road Map for America it is an excellent work that outlines the dangers of the coming demographic timebomb. You will be hearing lots about it in the months to come!
Bill Tufts
Fair Pensions For All
No comments:
Post a Comment